Taking things down a few pegs this weekend with a concert by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, in concert from Grugahalle in Essen Germany, recorded on November of 1961.

The epitome of Cool Jazz, Dave Brubeck had one of the longest and most successful careers in Music, active for over 60 years and spanning some 150 albums.

Needless to say, a national treasure whose work will be heard and enjoyed for a very long time – Brubeck was one of those artists many people got their first introduction to Jazz to.

Fortunately for everyone, in addition to his commercial recordings, he was recorded in concert quite a bit, by both fans and radio outlets, particularly in Europe.

This is from one of the many European tours Brubeck performed over the years, fortunately recorded and preserved by German Radio. If you’re just getting familiar with the music of Dave Brubeck and his long-time associates Paul Desmond on Alto Sax, Joe Morello on drums and Gene Wright on bass – here’s a good place to start. But check out his vast output of albums, most of which are still in print.

This is fantastic! I love discovering previously unheard concert performances by the Dave Brubeck Quartet with Paul Desmond. This particular concert is phenomenal, a rare chance to hear the quartet stretch out and perform tunes not normally heard live, such as the not recorded enough tune Nomad (my favorite Dave Brubeck composition). Thank you so much!

Pick a day. Any day.

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Gordon Skene, two-time Grammy Nominee and archivist runs The Gordon Skene Sound Archive and this website, which is dedicated to preserving and encouraging an interest in history and historic news, events, and cultural aspects of our society. Past Daily is the only place on the Internet where you can hear a Nixon speech, listen to an interview with John Cassavettes or play a broadcast of Charles Munch rehearsing the Boston Symphony in 1950, all in the same place. It's living history and it's timeless.